This find, by canadiancatgreen, is quite impressive. While one might expect to find a rare car like this Firenza (Vauxhall Viva HC) in a context where uncommon, orphaned cars are appreciated, seeing it with rust around its edges and Pep Boys hubcaps indicates unceremonious use as a daily driver. Replacement parts for a car like this don’t exactly fall into one’s lap and by most measures, it shouldn’t have made it this far. Yet here it is in all its chartreuse glory; if cars were sentient, I’d want this one to know how lucky it is.

There’s unfortunately only one picture of it on the cohort, so I’ll have to cull images of Firenzas and HC-series Vivas from elsewhere online. For a car in production from 1970 to 1979, its styling is very appropriate, with a carefully chosen combination of curves and straight lines that help unify a decade that began with the last years of the musclecar era and ended with neoclassical excess. As a conservatively styled everyman’s car, it’s a great effort by Vauxhall’s designers, and one of their last, as this car–and the entire Vauxhall lineup–was soon replaced by rebadged Opels.

Styling aside, however, life was not great for this Vauxhall and indeed, contemporary audiences may not have even appreciated its looks as much as I apparently do. In the UK, coupe versions of the HC-series Viva were called Firenza. Though the Viva never made it to the US, in Canada two door, four door, coupe and wagon versions were on the market from 1971-1972, meaning our brown sedan has made it at least 42 years as an orphan. Sold by Pontiac dealers as Firenza, with no Vauxhall badges to be seen, it remained on the market until the homegrown Vega (or in this case, the Astre) replaced it. Readers with experience with both Vauxhalls and Vegas are welcome to chime in and compare their impressions of each; I can’t be the only one curious to know which ones made better cars.

As sold in Canada, the car was equipped with a two-liter engine producing 77 net horsepower, its potency sapped by primitive emissions hardware. The poor reliability of that componentry, which cost Vauxhall a pretty penny to put together, combined with the usual early ’70s industrial action to make sourcing a constant supply of replacement parts for ever-increasing warranty claims a challenge. Dealers reportedly had to cannibalize unsold cars to cope and by 1973, the plug was pulled on Firenza, with class action suits against GM by frustrated owners apparently left unsettled until as late as 1980. As Canada was the largest export market for Vauxhall at the time, the failure of the Viva HC in Canada was not easy on Luton.

The reality of this story is too bad when you consider that Vauxhall went to the trouble of designing the car with North America in mind, its increased size allegedly eroding its competitive edge vis-a-vis the likes of the European Escort. In addition, the Firenza coupe could never make a proper competitor to the likes of Capri, which was far more differentiated from its sedan donor, while one class up, the Victor–also apparently designed with North America in mind–fell behind the Cortina. As it played the most critical role in Vauxhall’s line-up, the Viva HC/Firenza’s failure in Canada and Europe marked a very sad chapter in the company’s history, with some even deeming it the car which killed Vauxhall’s autonomy within GM. If that is indeed true, that someone has kept such a sad car alive, seemingly unaware of its history, really beats unlikely odds.

60 Comments

I like the look of the 2 door. When I was a young lad in the parts business my mentor got a phone call for a Olds Firenza–after getting off the phone he looked at me and said “Why would GM call another car Firenza?–the old imported ones where junk!” At this point I didn’t know there had been an imported Vauxhall–none of them were left in southern Ontario by 1984. Got to admitt the coupe is pretty good looking.

There are a couple of names and variations of a name that someone within GM liked using again and again, as if there was some little bald guy deep within the 6th floor of the GM building, where the IBM name generator was kept, that kept pressing the same key, Firenza is one of them, Calais, Astra, Astre, Astro, is another…

My Dad and Uncle both owned a number of Vauxhall and Envoy cars in the mid 60’s and early 70’s. A Firenza was the last of the line; my Uncle bought a brand new red 2-door and I thought it gorgeous, but it was a mechanical disaster! I don’t recall the exact details except for the time the water pump self-destructed and put a hole through the radiator. I do recall the Vancouver Sun reporting on a cross-Canada trek by a fleet of Firenzas (perhaps sponsored by a GM dealer?). This was supposed to disprove the notion that the cars were junk, but I recall that the trip wasn’t a big success. IIRC, something like 7 cars completed the trip and one of the 3 non-finishers was actually destroyed by an electrical fire!

Very rare to see HCs in the UK now. The top car is in ‘Honey Starmist’, also used on the previous HB models and the FD and early FE Victor/Envoy models. In my opinion the evenly divided windows of the 4-door looked better than the 2-door saloon. The Viva was in production from 1970 until the Summer of 1979 by which time it did look quite dated (though far better looking than a Lada).
They were made for South Africa too – I found a Chevrolet badged example in Barking (East London, UK) once which was a surprise at the time.

I recall working with guy back in the 70’s, that bought one these for his 100 mile round trip commute. I think he got about three years out of it. I can’t remember all the details but I know that he made some deal with GM on a trade in.

They were indeed a major P.O.S , certainly an embarrassment to all us employees. Someone mentioned Lada? I do believe that the Lada was marginly a better vehicle.

Russians bought the tooling for the Fiat 124 and sold them here at a loss to undermine capitalists–saying that they were pretty rugged. Hyundai started selling cars in Canada that were as crap as Lada’s but now 30 years later Hyundai is considered a quality automobile

There was an effort to conceal its origins, but it was always blatantly obvious. Especially when opening the hood: the ohv four was a dead-ringer for the Kadett four, except that all the measurements were converted from metric to Imperial.

But with the, Viva did get a new and unique front end suspension to go along with the coil spring rear one it had already on the HA.

Vauxhall: originally a british right hand drive car brand… GM had an assembling plant in Belgium where they had been manufactured left hand drive Vauxhallsand Rangers mainly for the BeNeLux markets right next door to the market leader Opel. Viva / Firenza was one of those Vauxhalls perhaps. Another interesting point with the Firenza IS that GM in South-Africa had released the right hand drive Chevrolet Firenza Can-Am with a Z28 Camaro V8 engine and they had categorized it as “muscle car”! That had happened in 1973… I met in real only the small 4 cylinder left hand drive Viva…probably assembled in Belgium (?).

These are indeed rare here in the UK due to massive rust issues, combined with unbelievably failure prone small parts and minimal assembly quality. I think GM must have had a feud with the main producers of seam sealant, as most seemed to be untouched by the stuff. I think Canada must have been the very worst market for British GM products, whose reputation for rusting was stuff of legends. What is particularly perplexing is why these were sold instead of Opels north of the border, as the German cars had far superior engineering and component quality, as well as marginally better rust resistance. Did it have to do with favorable exchange rates amongst commonwealth countries?

I think I remember my mom’s old Lemon Aid book from the 1977 having an entire chapter dedicated to the Firenza and Envoy. As I grew up in Kansas, these odd names sounded terribly exotic, but then again, so does Rift Valley Fever.

Given that US and Canadian market requirements were almost the same and GM sold Opel in the US, I can’t think of any reason other than Commonwealth tariff preference for GM having gone with Vauxhall in Canada.

I think you will find that there were many cars from the 70’s that rusted far worse than the Viva/Firenza here in the UK. I stared driving back in 82 and my first car was a 73 Viva and although it did have a bit of corrosion around the edges it was far better than my friends escort of the same year. Leyland stuff was worse for reliability and build quality Most problems with the smaller engined Viva’s were down to the delco distributor that went sloppy after 30000 miles and caused timing issues. During the late 80’s through to 2002 I used a 78 Viva estate as my every day car and it covered 150000 with only a replacement gearbox and a couple of clutches being the only major items needed. I dont understand the steering problems that Canadians experienced with the Firenza as it used to be renowned for being very good over here.

I made that second photo of the red Viva, so there’s actually some more cohort footage here 🙂 Shot it a couple of years back in London and it’s the most popular of all my car photos on Flickr for some reason. The car was certainly looking to be in great condition if there’s really such a rust problem with them in the UK.

Pretty sure I loaded some photos of a lineup of HCs on the cohort Perry long way back though, These were a very popular car in New Zealand we had the 4 headlight model badged as 1300 Magnium the ordinary square light was badged Viva there was also a gofaster stripe kit model called a score 7. 1975 saw Canadian spec Vivas hit NZ with stiffer front suspension I remember Dad taking one to a conference in Tauranga he reckoned it barreled over the Kaimai range in fine style holding the tight bends like a leech by the way Warkworth -tauranga return in one night is a fair hike on 70s NZ roads but for some reason the RMTA liked holding its meetings in out of the way places. I drove quite a few examples of the HC but was quite unimpressed with the mushy handling compared to the HB but I had a HC motor and gearbox in my HA and it went ok.

Firenza over here was the sport model and came with the OHC slant motor from the CF Bedford range in 1800cc & 2.300cc sizes, fast cars in their day. Many were retrofitted with V8s to create quite a muscle car though the South African factory hotrod was virtually unknown here at the time, there is still a 350 HC wagon racing in big banger class here I saw it recently on the Taupo circuit, still very competitive.
An engineering apprentice I klnew years back totalled his 253 Holden but retained the wreck and bought a HC score7 then transplanted the V8 powertrain from his Holden, Score7s were a joke being only a stripe kit except for the 253 one it gave a lot of people a rude shock.

I learned to drive in an early Viva, a base model owned by a friend. Not too impressive. What did impress me as a 16 year old at not much later was the new 1972 Cortina. But I really wanted a hatchback after graduating my post-secondary education. By then the Cortina was gone, the Capri and Mustang II too expensive so I factory ordered a well optioned 1974 Vega GT. Seriously it was a good car and I did a lot of highway driving one summer across the US and Canada. British cars were crap yet, you might still see a few Chevettes or Acadians in western Canada. Perhaps because these UK designed cars are rear wheel drive. Those cars I can’t bad mouth as my wife had an Acadian 4 door hatch and it was reliable and comfortable.

I remember these being around when I was kid, but by the time I was in the market for my first car in the late ’70s they were totally extinct. I don’t know how many were sold in ’71-’72, but Vegas of the same vintage were still an everyday sight, albeit not a pretty one. Not sure if that’s any indication of which car was “better” though.
In 1973 Pontiac dealers in Canada got the badge engineered Astre (a couple of years before it appeared in the States) to replace the Firenza. This would have been just in time to catch that cars problem reputation full in the face. By ’75 or so the Toyota and Datsun dealers had a hard time finding space in the back row for all the Vegas and Astres that came in on trades. Even then you never saw a Firenza.

I believe total sales in Canada were about 15,000, and you’re right that these became extinct very quickly. Other than niche vehicles like MG and Triumph, this was really the end of British cars in Canada, where they’d once played a fairly significant role in the market. The Cortina held on for another year or so before it too was replaced by the badge-engineered Mercury Bobcat (like the Astre, first introduced as a Canada-only model).

I’d argue that the Firenza was GM’s deadliest sin in Canada. It was the first real dent in the armor. Not only was the car utter garbage, owners found out that GM didn’t give a damn.

Fairly underwhelming car the Viva, but as Bryce said, they were fairly popular here in the land of Kiwi. I remember plenty while I was growing up through the 80s – a school mate’s father had one of the rare 3-door wagons that always reminds me of an AMC Pacer. After he retired from being a mechanic, my Dad continued to service a Viva through the 90s for a former customer for many years – it was the 1800cc 4-headlight version, which was badged Magnum over here. Painted gold like the first car above, with the silver & black wheels like the blue Firenza in picture 3. I never liked the Viva’s looks (wheel track too narrow, too much metal above the front wheel arches, odd proportions, goldfish bowl windows etc), but the Magnum was the least ugly of the lot. One thing that is unforgivable is the lack of a quarter-window in the rear door meant the windows were unable to wind down more than a couple of inches. That one oversight pretty much sums up my opinion of Vauxhall. Having said that though, canadiancatgreen’s find is rather spectacularly unexpected! And I applaud whoever’s keeping it alive in (presumably) regular use.

Agree with you on the looks, they were never as handsome as the HB in my opinion. The track, arch shape, bonnet line as you mentioned made it look like it was sitting on it’s wheels, as opposed to the wheels being an integral part of the car.

There was nothing fundamentally wrong with those cars when compared with the cars they were supposed to fight off – Japanese imports – other than their build quality. They were no more primitive or advanced than, say any compatible Datsun or Toyota. If only the US companies could have dealt with the above issue, the Japanese would have never become as big as they did. But then, this I think was the main problem with US manufacturers starting with the early 70s – the inability of maintaining their 30s/40/50s/60s of build quality and reliability.

It was neat to see this car.when I had seen it I thought it was maybe a Mercedes or perhaps BMW. Realize that I do not recall seeing a Vauxhall except pictures and model cars and I had not seen one like this. thanks for picking the picture

” Readers with experience with both Vauxhalls and Vegas are welcome to chime in and compare their impressions of each; I can’t be the only one curious to know which ones made better cars.”

As the dreadful Austin Marina was also sold in Canada at this time, I think the Firenza’s real competition in this race-to-the-bottom was not the Vega but the Marina. Hard to say which of these sad-sack four-bangers caused the most buyer’s remorse, although the fact that only the Firenza actually resulted in a class-action lawsuit probably tips the scales in Vauxhaul’s “favor” for this dubious distinction.

The HC Viva (Firenza) was a lot better at rust resistance than many so called better cars of the1970’s. The Datsun 120 Y rusted before it left the showroom, Ive seen those scrapped after 7 years. Fiats, Alfas, and Renaults were all poor in this respect although the Simca was probably the worst. Ford Escorts didnt last long and would usually require the top suspension mount welding after 5 years. The Viva was a predictable car to drive, it did what it was designed to do. Could the Canadian Firenza’s problems be due to people just wanting to give it a kicking because it was the fashionable thing to do at the time? Most of the trouble seems to have been caused by the emision equipment that surely affected many smaller engined cars at the time anyway? Nice to see one still flying the flag!!

The Viva was a popular car in the UK from its start in the early 60s the hb Viva was very well liked and the HC featured here didnt have a bad reputation at all in its day. I remember loads of them on the roads in the 70s and also seeing a proud ad by Vauxhall stating it was Britains number 1 selling car for one month in 1974 (? maybe Ford were on strike?) The coupe was usually called the Firenza here tho at times al the 1800 cc and 2300 cc Vivas were badged as Magnums.The droop snoot Firenza was a highly developed specialist job that could have been a winner but never made it and the estate cars (wagons)were probably the prettiest load carriers ever in the UK.Obviously not an export success but then neither was the Hillman Avenger but both were very well liked in the UK an much nicer to own or drive than the Morris Marina